When Stephanie Pully steps outside her office at the newly built headquarters for the Central Maryland Research and Education Center’s (CMREC) Clarksville facility, she sees more than a parking lot surrounded by fields of experimental crops.
She sees a multi-purpose landscape: solar panels shading the lot and powering the building, a hoop house with raised beds for accessible gardening, and a teaching pavilion for educational horticulture programs.
It’s a vision Pully turned into a thesis for her Master’s of Landscape Architecture degree, completed this past spring. Now that it’s on paper, she is seeking funding to make it a reality, and anyone who has worked with Pully knows, she’s very likely to make it happen. Her sheer determination carried her through the graduate program while also working at CMREC full time juggling more than 2,500 volunteers as the state coordinator for the University of Maryland Extension Master Gardener Program.
“The original plans for CMREC reflected a standard corporate landscape approach, but I saw an opportunity to build on that,” she said. “To create a space where we can engage in hands-on learning and explore a wide range of horticulture and agriculture topics.”
It’s not the first time Pully has acted on her vision. Soon after joining Extension, she noticed the Master Gardener Handbook was outdated—and took on the massive project of overhauling it. The result: a 900-page book with over 30 contributing authors.
Transformed from its spiral-bound predecessor, the new Maryland Master Gardener Handbook is a hardcover book with color photos, plant ID indexes, a pest diagnostic section, and a completely new chapter on native plantings. It also comes in an online version for accessibility—something Pully insisted on along with retaining the royalty agreement so book sales could fund Master Gardener program activities. Finding a publisher who could provide everything she wanted and met her high standards was just one of many hurdles.
“Believe me when I say I left no stone unturned looking for a publisher who could make the book both beautiful and accessible,” Pully said.
Her determination and hard work finally culminated in a watershed week of celebration earlier this year.
“It’s been major,” she said with a laugh. “My Master’s defense and the release of the handbook—they were only a couple days apart. I defended on April 10 and the handbook was officially published April 15.”
Her road to this year’s success may have been longer than the typical master’s student, but it was filled with rewards. Her family operated a landscaping company, and she knew she would pursue that field in some way. But after earning her undergraduate degree in Environmental Science from University of Maryland, Baltimore County in 2012, she took a job at the National Aquarium in Baltimore. “I coordinated volunteers for conservation events across the Chesapeake Bay Watershed,” she said. “I loved being outdoors, meeting people, and I was always most drawn to the plant aspects of our restoration projects.”
In 2018, when the Extension position opened, she jumped at it. “It had to do with plants, educating people, and volunteerism. Those are three core values for me.”
She also knew UMD had a master’s program in Landscape Architecture and applied after a year on the job. Although the program is full-time, the department leadership was willing to work with her and, with support from the team at CMREC, she managed to spread it over five years. Aside from her plans for a learning landscape, Pully has plenty of ideas for applying her degree.
“We don’t have an Extension specialist in landscape architecture, so I can fill that gap,” she said. “I’ve co-taught lessons on designing with native plants, and have worked with Master Gardeners on design projects for nonprofit, schools, and parks.”
After five full-throttle years, Pully may not be slowing down—but she’s exactly where she wants to be.
“I love my job, and I love the team I work with. The Master Gardeners are incredibly inspiring. I learn something every day. It’s never boring—and I couldn’t ask for anything better.”
by Kimbra Cutlip
